Global Warming: How We Can Reverse Our Damage?

Climate change is something that has always been a factor of the Earth that is forever-changing, but at the pace it has now sped up to, humans are to blame. Every day, millions of people are driving in cars that emit harmful gases and look outside to see massive factories exhaling white, milky clouds of by-products. These emissions have nowhere else to go instead of into the air that we breathe, and over the years it has visibly built up. This is only a small percent of what is polluting our planet. Oxygen-producing forests are replaced with air-polluting buildings, which makes the same pollution that acidifies our oceans, thaws our glaciers, and overall warms our planet.

The fact that humans are greatly contributing to climate change is undeniable. A great amount of everything we do throughout the day contributes to global warming without knowledge, so much so that it is now something that is constantly overlooked in today’s society because it has become such a norm. The Earth is the only home we have, and the only home that we presumably will ever have, so why are we doing so much to destroy it?

Although we are the ones doing the damage, we can also be the ones to counter our actions, and some of the changes that we can make are fairly simple.

Helping the climate should be a top priority for anyone living on Earth. Anything you do can make a change in the climate, it just depends on what you choose to do and what kind of impact you wish to have. Most of the things that the average person can do are easy if you put in the effort and are dedicated to making a change for the better.  

Grow your own food and plant your own trees. Not only is this solution healthier for you by reducing the chance of pesticides invading your produce, but this also helps replenish the air. Plants perform photosynthesis which takes in our carbon-contaminated air and replaces it with fresh oxygen. It is estimated that anywhere from 3 to 7 billion trees are cut down each year, giving fewer places for carbon dioxide to be absorbed, and with cutting down trees we’re creating an area for new industrial advancements.

Despite that these advancements would be a great thing for the economy, it is a huge stab into the environment because of the more carbon dioxide it would bring. Not only would we be pushing more harmful gasses into the atmosphere, but we also won’t have the help of trees to reverse our actions. With all the forests that are plowed down, having a garden to grow your own food can make a substantial change in reducing your individual carbon footprint. By even planting a fraction of the plants that are destroyed everyday, it is a stride to renewing our planet,  and it can begin in your backyard.

Limit the amount of water you waste. The use of water has consequences for our environment as well. Even if it seems to be “just water”, the water that we use makes an imprint in our atmosphere. The treatment of water contributes to the gasses trapped in our atmosphere because it takes massive amounts of energy to process. The amount of fossil fuels used to pump, heat and filter water is more than some may think, so the less water that we use, the better. Although facilities that cycle water purify the water we use, making it safe for us to use, it infects our air with toxic chemicals that we have no choice but to breathe. Effortless procedures can be taking shorter showers and turning off the faucet while brushing your teeth to reduce the need for the immense burning of these harmful chemicals. Steps like this can make a tremendous effect on putting a halt to contaminating our Earth.

Nothing is going to change unless we are determined to make the alterations in order to survive. This includes being conscious about decisions that affect the environment and speaking up about things that you believe in. One of the biggest things that you can do to make an impact for change is speaking up about these issues that go unnoticed, even if it is just talking to friends or family members. Global warming has an effect on everyone because we all live on the planet that we are destroying. Change can happen and we can undo what we have done, but it is about whether or not we can come together to reverse our actions.

Even if these changes may seem like a hassle now, the effect that they will have in the future will be worth it. The shift that you make in your life will make a difference, even the little things build up in the long run. Making the change now will prevent our planet from being pushed down a path of destruction, more than it already has been. Not only will wildlife and plants be saved, humans will as well be pulled from the trail of extinction.